Happiness at work A Competitive Advantage indeed

[Music]

two summers ago

i was on vacation in formentera a

beautiful island in the mediterranean

one day i was having lunch with my

partner

in a very nice seafood restaurant called

kanrafalet the location was

idyllic you are surrounded by the sea

you can see a small bay from the

restaurant terrace

and you can smell the breeze coming from

the sea

we were having a really wonderful launch

once we finished the main course i

ordered a mango panna cotta

for dessert a few minutes later

the waiter came with a big smile in his

face

greatly proud and he gave us

this a really special

mango panna cotta on the left

there was this white creamy kind of

pudding dessert

with a lot of mango syrup on top

on the right there was a drawing of a

silly crab

smiling at me and the amazing thing

was that it was made of strawberry

and chocolate syrups

this is how jose combines his job

as a waiter in a restaurant with his

passion

as a painter and he does that

every day later that afternoon

we saw how jose prepared all those

plates

he was in a corner of the restaurant

drawing with different cedar bottles

his ability was amazing and as soon as

he finished a drawing

he put the plate in a pile and started

another

i was astonished when i saw that because

he was so skilled

so creative and he was enjoying himself

so much

imagine what a show among the drawings

there was a boat on the sea a shark

an octopus a bird fly

so my partner asked him why are you

drawing on plates

and jose replied well i love drawing and

in fact i am a painter

and here in the restaurant they let me

do my thing you know

we continue talking and then he said

and by doing this we differentiate from

other restaurants in the area

jose creates 160

drawings like this every single

day and he has been doing it for more

than

11 years

think about it when people do what makes

them happy at work

amazing things happen

my name is joaquin vinas i am an

enthusiastic trainer

in happiness at work and i will share

with you

why happiness at work has become a

competitive advantage

and during this talk you will discover a

powerful tool

to increase both happiness and

performance at work

so what does happiness at work mean

i’m saying this because many times

happiness at work is linked to

nice office facilities with free fruit

and a games room with a ping pong table

it is linked also to having flexible

working hours

or to these social events in person or

virtual

where colleagues have fun with each

other

all these initiatives are fine however

happiness at work is much more than that

in fact most of the activities that i

just mentioned

are done while we are not working

so let me ask you something

think of a great experience that you

have

recently had at work one that really

made you happy what made that experience

so great

think about it did you fix

a complex issue did you have a positive

impact on others

did you make progress in a task or a

project

where you could use your strengths

the trainings that i carry out in

companies i ask participants the same

question

i have never heard someone say things

such as playing ping pong or enjoying

free fruit

quite the opposite most of the

experiences were

task related and in those participants

explain

how they were using their strengths

to reach an objective to contribute to a

mission

or to a purpose or to have a positive

impact on others positive psychology

demonstrates how

we feel happy when we can unleash

our talents at work and this is why

i like to define happiness at work as

the state of well-being

that comes as a result of using

our talents at work i will say it again

the state of well-being that comes as a

result

of using your talents at work

now the question is are happy employees

performing better than

do they get better results

absolutely yes and the reason is very

simple

because when you are happy at work you

are more engaged with your job

and you are more loyal to the

organization if you

stay in the company and you are more

committed

your performance will be higher

therefore

results will be much better

last but not least when you get results

using your strengths as we saw before

you simply feel happier

so here you have this beautiful virtuous

circle that many successful companies

practice

to give you an example the fortune

company

analyzes the 100 best companies to work

for

these organizations apply policies to

improve the well-being of their

employees

it turns out that these 100 best

companies to work for

triple the return on investment compared

to other

equivalent indexes

when people are happy they perform

better especially new generations

millennials and centennials who really

want to be happy

doing what they like at work happiness

itself is a priority for them

so if we want people to perform better

it looks like it is a good idea to have

policies

that help employees feel happy doing

their job and this explains why

happiness at work is indeed

a competitive advantage

so now what can you do to increase

happiness at work

there are many initiatives that you can

take

today i will focus on the one that

from my experience as a company trainer

in happiness at work

is the most powerful one

and this is help people

do more of what makes them happy

in other words let people craft

their job amy grenierski from yale

university

discovered that the one common trait in

the happiest people in organizations

was that they all had modified

tweaked shaped their job

making it more meaningful so they could

use their talents

more this is called job crafting

and it can be defined as the process

that helps individuals

reshape their jobs so that they can do

more

of what makes them happy

this is not about doing only the tasks

that you like

not at all we’ll have a job description

and responsibilities to accomplish but

at the same time

you can really sculpt your job and

modify some tasks

so you can use your talents more

the example of the waiter jose in

formentera is a great one

because he is doing something meaningful

he is using his

strengths and his talent and he is

adding

value to his position and to the

restaurant

if you think this case is a bit unusual

let me share with you another great

example of job crafting

that came out from the trainings icar

reacting companies

in those workshops i use a process where

participants have to define

what their talents are what they enjoy

most and what their strengths are

and considering all these they have to

brainstorm

about what they can do to unleash

their full potential adding value

to the organization and this is the

moment

when amazing things happen

i can remember vividly a sales

representative called

elisa before the training she told me

i like my job but it is boring and not

very fulfilling for me

during the workshop she shared with us

that besides

sales she was passionate about learning

and teaching

after the brainstorming exercise she

felt she could join

both disciplines sales and teaching

to create a specific training in the

company

you could see how she was getting more

and more excited with her idea

she defined her action plan and when she

presented it

to the human resources department not

only they said yes

but they helped her to prepare the

training

five months later she was delivering her

first

session and sometime later she became

a sales coach in the company

look at this you have a sales expert

you have a person that knows the company

and the business

and you have someone that is passionate

about teaching

and all of them are the same person

when people do what makes them happy at

work

amazing things happen

so now how can you as entrepreneur

leader or colleague help others grab

their job

here you have three ideas that we

develop

during the trainings first idea

let people do their job their way

we all are different so we have

different ways of doing things

the more we can do our job in our own

way

the better we feel in fact

everyone loves to leave their personal

stamp

in the job they do we as leaders

have to make sure that objectives and

responsibilities are clear

and we should provide a framework but

within this

if you give people the space and the

autonomy to do their job

their way they will be more committed

and they will feel better

second idea help people

maximize their talents

when you use your strengths and

capabilities

you feel good and perform better

however how do you feel when you cannot

use your talents at work

how frustrated do you get

in a very interesting research about the

job satisfaction

a 27 year old millennial called luis

alberto

said the following many companies talk a

lot about

promotion and career path however

i have never been asked what i like the

most

what tasks i do best or how i

could develop my talent

you can feel in this sentence how louis

alberto is frustrated

for being suppressed and how he would

like to unleash

his full potential doing his job

so if you want your team to maximize

their talents

what if you help them apply in job

crafting

why don’t you have a conversation and

then you ask them

what motivates you what could you like

to do more

how could you put it into practice

and how can i help you with that

imagine that your manager asked these

questions to you from time to time

how would you feel and how would you

feel when he or she

helps you feel happier at work

think about it because you can easily do

that with your team

just by having this conversation

and you will really have a huge impact

in their happiness and performance

third idea craft your job

yourself if you want to develop job

crafting in the company

why don’t you start by yourself

devote some time reflecting about your

unique talents

think about what you could like to do

more

and then define in a realistic way

what tasks you would like to modify or

just

start doing

as a leader give yourself permission

to do more of what makes you happy

not only you will feel better but you

will be

leading by example

so after having seen that happiness at

work is a competitive advantage

and also how to increase happiness by

applying job crafting

i would like to end with a proposal

if you as entrepreneur or leader

want to increase the level of happiness

and performance in your team

sit with them and just ask them

how can i help you so you can do more

of what makes you happy

this is a crucial conversation

and one worth having because when people

do what makes them

happy at work

amazing things happen

thank you very much